When it comes to cancer risk in postmenopausal women, body fat distribution is more important than body weight, according to research recently presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress in Madrid, Spain. Abdominal weight gain, which is common in older women, is of particular concern.

These findings come from the Danish Prospective Epidemiologic Risk Factor study – an observational study designed to provide a better understanding of age-related diseases in postmenopausal women. The researchers did baseline dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans on 5,855 women with an average age of 71 to assess their body fat composition. The women were followed for 12 years.

Using information from national cancer registries, researchers found 811 recorded solid cancers among study participants. The ratio of abdominal fat to peripheral fat in the women was a significant predictor of cancer diagnosis, while neither body mass index (BMI) nor overall fat percentage showed any statistical significance.

Sourced from: European Society for Medical Oncology

For the first time, researchers have suggested a link between e-cigarettes containing nicotine and hardening of the arteries – a condition that increases heart attack and stroke risk. The small study, which was presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy, also suggests a link between e-cigs and two other indicators of heart disease – increased heart rate and blood pressure.

The preliminary study was conducted at the Danderyd University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, Sweden. It involved 15 healthy volunteers with an average age of 26 who smoked a maximum of 10 cigarettes per month and had never used electronic cigarettes prior to the study. Researchers randomized participants to use e-cigarettes with nicotine for 30 minutes on one day of the study and e-cigarettes without nicotine on the other day.

They then measured blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial stiffness immediately after, two hours later, and four hours after the volunteers smoked the e-cigarettes. They discovered a significant increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial stiffness within 30 minutes of smoking e-cigarettes containing nicotine. No such effect was observed in those who smoked non-nicotine e-cigs.

Sourced from: European Lung Foundation

Lung infections in young children increase their risk for developing asthma and poor lung function later in life, according to a new study. This research was presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress.

The study involved 154,492 European children. Researchers discovered that children who had had an upper respiratory infection – cold, sore throat, or ear infection, for example – by the age of 5 had a 1.5 times higher risk of developing asthma, and those who had a lower respiratory infection, like bronchitis or pneumonia, by age 5 had a two- to four-times higher asthma risk. Lower respiratory infections in childhood also increased the risk for worse lung function later in life.

It’s too early to prove a cause-effect relationship between childhood respiratory infections and decreased lung function later in life, researchers say, and they suggest more studies to determine whether respiratory infections cause asthma symptoms or asthma symptoms increase the risk for respiratory infections.

Sourced from: ScienceDaily